Moonlit Shadows
by aryssamonster
Summary: What if, when James bit Bella in Twilight, Edward hadn’t been able to get all of the venom in time? What if just enough had lingered in her long enough to change her? What if Bella had become half vampire? Rest of the summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

**What if, when James bit Bella in Twilight, Edward hadn't been able to get _all _of the venom in time? What if just enough had lingered in her long enough to change her, just a little? What if Bella had become half vampire? Ageless, cold as ice, pale as Edward, graceful as Alice, and eyes like honey, she possesses all of the vampirish qualities except the insatiable thirst for blood. **

**I'm pretending that the James attack took place at the end of New Moon instead of Twilight. Edward and Bella have a stronger bond by this point, plus Jacob is already a werewolf. I love Jake, no matter how much he bugs me, so I wanted him to have a main part in my story...Anyway, yeah. New Moon, not Twilight. **

**_"Moonlit Shadows"__

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_**

Voices swirled around me, confusing and impossible to detach from each other. My eyes wouldn't open, so I didn't know who was doing the talking. At least, I didn't until I heard someone say my name.

"Bella..."

I would recognize that velvety smooth voice anywhere. I struggled to open my eyes.

"Edward?" I whispered. He was leaning over me, me favorite crooked smile on his lips. He reached out and took my hand. I frowned. I didn't know if it was me or the medication I was undoubtedly on speaking, but his hand didn't feel cold anymore. Normally he was as cold as ice. I looked at him questioningly.

"Why aren't you freezing?" I asked confusedly. He laughed and looked behind him at the other person in the room, Alice. When Edward made eye contact with her, she laughed along with him but I knew that they were conveying information between them. I was, as usual, frustrated at this lack of mental ability that my vampire friends possessed.

"What do you guys know that I don't?" I muttered, attempting to sit up. Edward gently pushed me back down.

"Rest, Bella," he whispered. "You'll find out soon enough, I promise."

"Where am I?" I tried again. The room around me looked thoroughly unfamiliar. The walls were white and plain. The bed was comfortable, though it too was plain. "Am I in a hospital?" Panic edged into my voice. I didn't like hospitals.

"No Bella," Alice danced to the side of the bed and stood next to Edward. "You're in our house."

" Carlisle will explain the rest to you...something happened to you, Bella," Edward looked pained. "When James attacked you...something bad happened."

"We aren't positive it's bad," Alice amended, shooting a glare at her adoptive brother.

"It's bad," Edward argued. "There could be drastic consequences to this, Alice!"

"What happened?" I asked loudly, tired of being left out of the conversation. Edward sighed and looked down at me, meeting my gaze. His topaz eyes were soft.

" Carlisle is outside the door. He'll explain it to you," he dropped my hand. "I'll be back when he's finished. I promise."

"No!" I reached after him. "Please stay..." Edward looked helplessly to Alice. She shrugged.

"Please?" I whispered. A sudden fear clutched at me. I had no idea what to expect. Was I dying? Was that why Edward was acting so...different?

Edward's eyes softened.

"Alright," he said quietly. "I'll stay." He walked back to my side and took my hand. " Alice, will you please get Carlisle? Tell him...we're ready." The smaller Cullen nodded and walked gracefully out of the room. I waited nervously until Carlisle came back in a few moments later.

"Hello Bella," he smiled warmly, but he spoke softly. "Are you feeling better?" I took a moment to think about what he was talking about before nodding. I remembered the fight with James. I remembered my panic as I looked for my mom. Mostly, I remembered that I was almost killed...I shivered. I knew that Edward had found me in time. He had sucked the venom out of the wound. I should be fine...right?

"What happened to me?"

Carlisle sat down on the edge of my bed and took a deep breath before starting his story.

"I'm sure you remember what happened to you." I nodded, so he resumed talking slowly. "When we found you, Bella, you were very pale. We thought it was just from the loss of blood from your injuries. That, of course, can be fixed...But then we noticed something else..." I was starting to get frustrated. Why couldn't anyone just tell me anything straight out?

"I'm sure you want to know what we're talking about," Carlisle said in an apologetic tone.

"Well, kind of!" I muttered. Carlisle leaned down and picked something up off the floor. When he straightened up, I realized he was holding a mirror.

"Here," he held it out to me. Nervous butterflies erupted in my chest. Was I horribly disfigured or something? I took the mirror and held it up to examine my face.

At first glance, I thought I looked the same. My hair was a little bit straighter, a little bit silkier. My face was clear, albeit more pale than usual. My golden-brown eyes searched the mirror, looking for what exactly it was that the Cullens were so worried about. I looked up towards Edward.

"I don't understa..." I trailed off. My attention snapped back to the mirror; my eyes in particular. Golden-brown eyes, pale skin...

"Bella, I'm afraid that the venom may have had time to change you a bit before we got to you..."

"And?" my voice came out as a barely audible whisper.

"Bella," Edward said sadly. "We think you are a vampire."


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow. I kind of feel awful that it took so long to update...I kind of lost my notebook that had this story in it and I didn't feel like rewriting it.**** But I finally found it. And here it is. Chapter two.**

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**RECAP! **

_"I don't understa..." I trailed off. My attention snapped back to the mirror; my eyes in particular. Golden-brown eyes, pale skin..._

_"Bella, I'm afraid that the venom may have had time to change you a bit before we got to you..."_

_"And?" my voice came out as a barely audible whisper._

_"Bella," Edward said sadly. "We think you are a vampire."_

* * *

"A vampire?"

I couldn't believe it. This was what I'd been wanting for months! Even if Edward hadn't been the one to change me, _I was changed_. I could be one of the Cullens now, if Edward still wanted me to marry him.

But something was wrong. I frowned. The newborns I had seen all had red eyes. Mine were honey colored, same as the Cullens. Weren't new vampires supposed to be wild with thirst? That's what Edward had told me, yet, I felt nothing.

And then something else occurred to me. Alice had said that it took three days to make the transformation between human and vampire.

"How long have I been out?" I asked. Edward fiddled nervously with the bottom hem of his shirt. Carlisle looked away from his son and turned his gaze on me.

"A week," he admitted. My eyes grew wide again. A week? What did my parents think?

"Relax Bella," Carlisle said soothingly. "Jasper took care of your parents."

"Wha-"

Edward interrupted me. "He told your father that you fell down a flight of stairs and through a window." I glared at him indignantly. He shrugged. "It could happen, you must admit." I stuck my tongue out at him playfully then turned back to Carlisle with another question.

"Do they know where I am?"

"No," Carlisle said. "Your parents think that you are in a private hospital – no visitors allowed." I frowned.

"Why aren't I in a hospital?" Edward raised an eyebrow. "Oh. Right," I felt sheepish. "Vampire." I shook my head in an attempt to clear it. "Stupid question." I tried to sit up again and was surprised at how sore I was. I lifted my arm to brush a strand of hair behind my ear and froze. My pale skin was covered in dark, purplish bruises. I blinked quickly. Didn't you have to have blood to have bruises? I looked up in confusion and met Carlisle's gaze. I could see he understood where my train of thought was going.

"We aren't sure of how much of you has been changed," he explained. "Edward seemed to have gotten most of the venom out before it had a chance to change you fully."

"So I'm, like," I tried to wrap my mind around the concept, "half vampire, half human?"

"It appears so," Carlisle agreed.

"Your eyes are brown," Edward pointed out the obvious with a smile. "I don't think that you'll have any problems with human food, Bella."

"You mean...I won't want to...well..." I trailed off, "...you know."

"No Bella," Carlisle smiled at me fondly. "I do not think that you'll be drawn to blood."

That was a relief. It felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I hadn't imagined that the transition between, or rather merging, species would be so...easy. The worst of it had come and gone. I'd been out during the pain. And, as if that weren't enough. I didn't have the blood-lust complex that vampires are supposed to have. I still had one question though. It was the thing I was most about.

"Do I still age?" I asked curiously.

"I don't believe so. I ran some tests on you while you were unconscious," Carlisle looked sheepish. I almost laughed. I really didn't care that he ran tests on me while I was out. All I cared about now was the fact that I now had eternity to spend with Edward. I made eye contact with him. He was smiling. I guess he came to that conclusion also. Carlisle cleared his throat.

"I have some errands to run. I'll see you both later." He left the room, giving Edward a look that plainly said 'be-careful-with-her' on the way out. There was a long silence as Edward looked like he was thinking over what to say. I broke through the quiet quickly.

"How did you keep me unconscious?"

Edward looked confused. "What?"

I grinned. "Come on. That pain is enough to wake the dead. How did you do it?"

"I, uh...that is to say, Alice and I..." he stumbled over the words. " Carlisle agreed!"

I raised an eyebrow.

"We...we kind of...drugged you," he admitted.

"With what?" I asked, wondering what kind of drug block out the intensity of that pain.

Edward shrugged. "We didn't ask Carlisle. Bit it kept you unconscious and seemed to ease your pain some."

"In that case, thank you," I grinned. Edward walked briskly across the room so he was next to my bed again.

"I love you Bella," he said seriously. I blushed.

"I love you too."

He leaned down and kissed me. I sighed happily, but the sigh quickly turned into a yawn.

"Get some sleep Bella," Edward pushed a strand of hair behind my ear before leaving the room. I settled back in my bed and quickly fell asleep smiling.

That was the first time I had the nightmare.

I stayed at the Cullen's house for another ten days before Carlisle pronounced me well enough to go home to Charlie's. Edward promised me that he would visit that night. I hoped that his presence while I was in my own home would make the nightmares stop.

I was wrong.

**Good? Bad? Just kind of...mediocre? Let me know. The purple button likes being my messenger.**


	3. Chapter 3

**And Alyssa makes her triumphant (cough-or not-cough) return to Fanfiction! I've finally begun work on my long neglected stories, now that school is out.**

**I know that this chapter is kind of short. But I really like this one. I hope you like it too!  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own.**

**- Jesusfreak991  
**

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CHAPTER 3  
_ He stood on the cliff, surveying the water below him. As usual, it was churning. The wind was howling. But the weather didn't phase him. It never did. His cool gaze lifted from the water and looked into my eyes. A thrill of panic shot through me. I couldn't move. I never could.  
"Goodbye Bella," he said indifferently. I tried to reach out to him. I tried to make myself speak, but the motion and the words wouldn't come. He turned his head back to the water and there was a tension filled moment before it happened, just like I knew it was.  
He jumped off the cliff, fully intending to end his life. The scream that I'd been trying to let loose finally came through.  
"Jacob!" I cried in terror. Just like always, he didn't respond. He was gone. _And just like every other night, I woke up.  
My breathing was constricted, coming in short gasps as I tried to calm myself down.  
"Was it the same dream again?" Edward's voice seemed to emanate from the darkness; worried, but disapproving at the same time. I knew that he was sitting in the chair back in the shadowy corner of my room. The same as every night. That was one repetition that I didn't mind.  
"Yeah," I murmured as I tried to detangle myself from my sheets. "Do all newborns have this…side effect?"  
Edward chuckled and crossed the room to sit next to me. He pulled me into his lap and held me close. I missed that icy feeling that his skin used to hold. He was still colder than I was, being that he was fully vampire, but it just wasn't the same. He was more comfortable around me now, though, since I was no longer as strong of a temptation to him.  
"No," he replied. "At least, not any newborns I've known." He shrugged. "Of course, your situation is a bit…well, not unheard of, but most definitely rare. For all we know, the dreams could be a result of malnutrition or sleep deprivation. Your body is still adjusting to the new changes you've been through."  
I rolled my eyes. Only Edward would contribute that fact that I had had the same dreams fifteen times in a row to sleep deprivation.  
"Don't you think," I persisted, "that maybe the dreams means something?"  
"What could it mean?" Edward frowned in disapproval at my worry over Jacob. "I don't think your animal would fling himself off a cliff over a girl." He grinned halfheartedly. "Even a girl like you."  
"Maybe it's not because of me," I protested.  
"Bella," Edward was serious now. "You think too much. It was just a dream. Besides, I am sure that the-" I glared at him, "Jacob can take care of himself."  
I realized that our conversation would just end in an argument, as did all conversations about Jacob, so I decided to keep my thoughts to myself for awhile. I snuggled back up against Edward. He began to hum my lullaby under his breath. My exhausted eyes began to slide closed. It wasn't long before the tone of his voice and his soothing rubbing on my back lulled me into an uneasy sleep.  
_ It was pitch black. The darkness was tangible. It was all around me, pressing in on me. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. I was gasping for air. Wherever I was, I was going to die there. I was sure of it. And then, suddenly, the suffocating blackness began to thin. Gradually, I could make out a surface. A road, possibly. Drops of something wet peppered my body. I looked up. I was beginning to make out angry, black clouds. It was raining, more and more as time went on. I squinted, trying to figure out where I was. Two tiny bright lights emerged from around what I assumed was a turn in the road. They grew bigger as they came closer and I realized that it was a car. I blinked.  
When I opened my eyes, I was no longer standing outside. Instead, I was in the backseat of the car that had just passed me. The passengers' faces were obscured by the darkness. I hoped mine was as well, should they notice I was there.  
"I think you missed our exit," a woman's voice complained.  
"I didn't see it yet," the man driving said. "Let's just go a little further."  
"We're going to be late!" the woman shifted irritably in her seat, causing a flash of light to glitter off the fancy jewelry she wore on her wrist. I guessed that these people, whoever they were, were on their way to a party or something.  
"Maybe you're right," the man conceded. "Maybe we should-" The man was cut off but a sudden squealing of the tires. The car began to fishtail out of control. The man swore out of fear. The sound of the woman's screaming reverberated through the air as the man tried desperately to keep the car on the road. The car twisted around dangerously, swerving and tilting. I heard another voice start to scream as well, and I realized that it was mine. The car swerved again, this time, more violently. I didn't notice the turn in the mountain road until that moment. A feeling of panic washed over me. There was no way the man was going to be able to get control over the car before we reached that sharp curve. The car was going to tumble down the embankment with us in it. The man knew it as well. In a last ditch attempt to stop the car, the man jerked the steering wheel to the left and stomped on the breaks. It didn't help. The car swerved on the uneven asphalt, turning us so that we would hit the thin guard rail sidelong. As we sped towards our inevitable demise, the woman crossed herself and uttered one short sentence.  
"Lord save us."  
And then the world turned upside down. We slammed through the guard rail hard. Sickening crunches rang through the air as the car bounced off the ground, rolling faster and faster. And then, suddenly, we stopped.  
The man and woman had slammed against various parts of the car during our descent and now they hung limply from their seatbelts. I had barely moved throughout the whole ordeal, reminding me that the crash was merely a figment of my overwrought imagination. At least, I thought it was. I had never had a dream this vivid. Not even my Jacob Suicide dream.  
A sudden morbid curiosity took the place of the panic I had felt, which had subsided when the car stopped rolling. I wanted to know who these people were. I carefully peered over at the bodies in the front seats. The man was bleeding so badly that the features on his face were obscured. My stomach turned violently. He was definitely dead. I turned to the woman.  
It was if time stopped. The woman was alive, but just barely. She made eye contact with me, and it was as if something had shocked her. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of me. She drew a gasping breath and whispered on word.  
"Bella…" Her eyes slipped closed and her breath left her.  
The cold panic that had seized me during the crash had returned. I was hyperventilating, praying that I was wrong. But I knew I wasn't. I could just see through the dark, sticky blood that I was staring down at the dead face of my mother.  
_ I woke up screaming.


End file.
